Impact of Aerobic Exercise on Obesity among Female Undergraduates of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

Introduction: According to the World health organization, obesity is an abnormal or excessive fat accumulation which impairs health, and is caused by imbalance between calories intake and calories expended. In the 21st century, overweight and obesity were only problems of developed countries which have increased due to sedentary life styles, behavioral changes, and genetic modifications. Obesity is dominating as a global epidemic as it increases risk of human life which is directly related to some diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, certain cancer types and diabetes. Hence the need for effective solution for obesity has led to the recommendation of aerobic exercises that help in weight reduction via increasing the body’s ability to utilize oxygen efficiently. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise on obesity and weight management body in female obese subjects (undergraduates) of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso.

Forty (40) female obese subjects were randomly selected for this study. Subjects were undergraduate students from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), within the age range of about (18-30) years. All subjects signed the written consent form prior to the study and health status questionnaire to gather demographic information and data on lifestyle for the study. The subjects were randomly grouped into 2 (n=20); Control group that did not perform any exercise and experimental group that performed aerobic exercise with 60% exercise intensity according to the ‘Karovonen’ formulae for 50minutes daily which lasted for 3 days and for 50minutes weekly which lasted for 8weeks.

Pre- and post- anthropometric measurement (body weight, height, body mass index, circumferential and skinfold measurements), cardiovascular characteristics (heart rate and blood pressure), and biochemical assays [blood glucose level, triglyceride, cholesterol, low density lipo-protein and high density lipo-protein] were done on both control and experimental subjects to assess the effect of aerobic exercise on obesity. Statistical analysis of data was done using SPSS to determine the mean and the standard deviation, T-test was done to determine P-value, which was set as P˂0.05 which determine the level of significant in the two groups.

The control group maintains its average body weight of 80.80 kg, height of 1.622m and BMI of 30.75; blood pressure and heart rate of control subjects of 134.1/73.20mmHg and 72beat/minute; average blood glucose level of (112.6±12.04); lipid profile levels, circumferential and skinfold measurement throughout the study. However, experimental group showed significant reduction in: the average body weight and BMI of experimental subjects from 86.25kg and 33.00kg/m2 to 77.65and 29.45 respectively (p= 0.001 and 0.014), Blood pressure from 133.1/73.40mmHg to 115.1/64.25mmHg (p= 0.017), the average blood glucose level from 111.0/dl to 80.70g/dl (p= 0.001), [LDL, TRIG, and Cholesterol levels] (p= 0.001), circumferential and skinfold measurement and of certain body parts at the end of the aerobic exercise and when compared to control subjects (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Aerobic exercise significantly reduces body excess compositions, blood glucose level, body mass index, blood pressure lipid profile except for high density lipo-protein, showing that aerobic exercise is of great health benefit.